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The Guild Counsel: Guild-friendly features for which to be thankful
If you're reading this, it's probably well into Thanksgiving Day, which makes me wonder why you are reading this -- it's Thanksgiving Day! Perhaps you're playing catch-up while you finish up that slice of pumpkin pie. Or maybe you're back home, raiding the fridge for a late night turkey snack and a quick MMO update. Whatever your reason, there are many things that we can be thankful for when it comes to our MMOs. We've come a long way when it comes to guild-friendly features, and it's worth taking a look at in this week's Guild Counsel.
Wings Over Atreia: Attitude of gratitude
For Solorius, I expounded on my wish list for Aion, detailing things I wanted to see in game. Now, however, 'tis the season to express thankfulness for that which we have. While contemplating the many things I am grateful for in my life, I also considered the things that I am grateful for in the world of Atreia. Sure, things are not perfect (what world, real or pixelated, is?), and there are problems, bugs, and things I still hope are changed or added, but that does not diminish the fact that Aion still offers many things to gamers in general -- and me in particular. Originally slated to release during the holiday, this topic was preempted by last week's announcement. No matter -- I certainly don't mind stretching out the season of gratitude. So while it might be more trendy to troll and spread hate, I dedicate this week's Wings Over Atreia to just saying thanks. Don't believe there are things to be thankful for? Step past the cut (or roll, if you enjoyed as much turkey as I did) to check out my reasons and a chance to express your own.
Free for All: What I am thankful for
Here in the United States we are gearing up to celebrate well, whatever it is exactly that we give as the reason to get together with friends and family and eat more than humanly possible on the last Thursday in November. To be honest, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I truly do use the occasion to take stock of how good I have it and to decide what is important to me and my future. I wanted to take similar stock with you all, my readers. After all, work can be a major part of our lives, and this is my work. Over the year and a half I really have learned a lot and became a better writer through the experience. So I am thankful for a lot. Click past the cut and I'll tell you just what I am thankful for.
Arcane Brilliance: Things I'm thankful for
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, Arcane Brilliance is feeling especially festive. Pyroblasting a turkey will do that. So apparently it's the holiday season. I'm still burping up cranberries and stuffing, my wife has started forcing Christmas music upon me (and frankly, if it's not Mannheim Steamroller, I don't want to hear it), and I've reached the point in the year when -- for my own mental well-being -- I refuse to look at a bank statement until February. To those of you who survived yesterday's annual gladiatorial bloodletting and emerged victorious from the front doors of Walmart or Old Navy, hoisting your hard-won set of hand towels above your head like a trophy: I salute you. To those of you who, like me, stayed home and bought stuff on Steam and Xbox Live: I also salute you, only I do so from my chair, by typing in an emote. Because, really, we're all pretty lazy. But damned if I don't feel well rested. In deference to the spirit of the season, we here at Arcane Brilliance thought it might be nice to spend a column thinking about the things we're grateful right now. You'll find the mage-related stuff behind the jump, but here's my non-mage-related short list of awesome things: flatbread chicken sandwiches getting randomly tagged on Dragon Quest IX while walking through the airport Tuesday night troll druid cat form The Walking Dead Mumford and Sons discovering the brilliance of Arrested Development and Friday Night Lights on Netflix Taco Bell, Netflix, Square Enix, etc. ... feel free to make any and all endorsement checks out to Christian Belt, care of WoW Insider. Also, screw you, AMC, for canceling Rubicon. I was just starting to enjoy that one. And screw you double, FOX, for putting Fringe on Fridays, where all good FOX shows go to die.
The Daily Grind: What are you thankful for in MMOs?
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, a time for celebrating with the family, eating copious amounts of dead birds, and giving thanks to the blessings and bounties that have landed in our lives. In the spirit of the holiday, today we'd like to ask you what you're thankful for in MMOs. Put aside bitterness and frustration for a day to reflect on what makes you thankful to be an MMO gamer and what makes you enjoy the plethora of titles out there. Are you glad that you've found a good guild to hang with, or perhaps you've made one friendship in a game that's changed your life? Have you recently accomplished a major goal in your game that's filled you with contentment? Are you enjoying a wide variety of MMOs and can't imagine being bored? Are you flush with gold, have you six mounts in the garage, and do you lack for nothing? Does the supreme master wordsmithing of Massively keep you excited about games? Today, be thankful. Today, share with us what makes you thankful about MMOs right now. And please have some pie -- we really made too much. 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!
What I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving season
Since many of us at TUAW are celebrating Thanksgiving in America, I though this might be a good time to join many others in posting a few things I'm thankful for in the Mac web. Naturally, I'm thankful for the wonderful family I'm getting to spend time with, as well as an incredible wife and having a roof over my head. But in the context of TUAW, I figured I would spotlight some of the more Apple-related things for which I'm thankful. You know, the people, apps and other goodness that make my Mac experience that much more appreciable: The blogging team here at TUAW - No I'm not just sucking up; we have a great crew of people here that has recently expanded with the return of Laurie A. Duncan, and our newest blogger Erica Sadun. We're rocking some great content that makes me even more proud to be a TUAW blogger. MagSafe power adapters - kinda silly I know, but living in a house with a wife as busy as I am and a hyper-active Blue Heeler dog, this innovation has already saved my MacBook on a good number of occasions. I thank Apple's engineers for this surprise innovation on the new Intel portables. Daring Fireball - Yes, we pimp John Gruber's stellar musings on all things Apple, software and design quite a bit here on TUAW, but that's only because we all think he does some pretty nifty work, and his writing is a personal inspiration to me. I can't wait for Spring when I'm done with this internship and down to my final semester, with not much more than a senior thesis on my hands, which means more time to dedicate towards creating better posts and podcasts. Xtorrent - Aside from the mixed sentiments towards Mr. Watanabe in my last post about this rockin' BitTorrent client, I'm really digging it, and this is the first holiday trip away from home that I elected to leave the iMac running (on a battery backup, finally) with a long list of goodies to torrent for when I return. Keyword Manager for iPhoto - Sure, I found it just recently, but this app has quickly become a must-have for my iPhoto library. After recently acquiring a killer Canon Digital Rebel XT SLR camera, I'm getting my photography eye back and this app is proving vital for bringing some organization to my now-rapidly expanding library of 3700+ images. Backlit keyboards - I gave up my 1st gen MacBook Pro over the summer for a MacBook + iMac setup so I can leave the desktop machine running to render out big video and motion graphics projects. However, since my wife wants a notebook of her own soon, she promised to chip in to purchase a MacBook Pro for me in June of '07 as a graduation present, at which point she'll inherit the MacBook, and I will be reunited with one of the guiltiest of notebook luxuries that I miss so dearly: a backlit keyboard. Nevermind the recent bump to Core 2 Duo or the (finally!) re-introduction of FW800 and a DL DVD burner - I can't wait to fire up that sexy backlit keyboard. The Intel patch for Unreal Tournament 2004 - I spend way too much time online in this game, and I'm so thankful an Intel patch was released; so much so that it would have been at least a momentary deal-breaker if I couldn't find one when I was considering my original upgrade to Intel machines. I could obviously go on for pages, but I gotta wrap this up sooner or later. These are just a few of the unique things I'm thankful for (besides the obvious: "Macs") during this time of thanking. What Apple-related stuff are you thankful for right now? Whether or not you're celebrating, sound off in the comments.
