WRUP: The right and wrong way to install a new hive into an apiary edition

In order to make proper use of an apiary, you naturally need one or several hives of bees living comfortably within the structure. When you receive your new hive, in order to install it, you should not shake up the structure and scream obscenities at the bees without protective equipment. You should also not attempt to become "one with the bee" by painting your body black and yellow and buzzing. You should also ensure that you are installing a beehive rather than a bear cub. Assuming all of these criteria are met, installing a new hive should come naturally.

And now, for something completely different: It's WRUP! We will not be stirring any hives -- instead we're discussing what the Massively staff is playing over the weekend. We also mention whether or not the site has ever convinced one of our number to try a new game. So jump on past the cut to see what we'll be playing for the weekend, and join the buzz in the comments below.

Beau Hindman (@Beau_Hindman): I will be playing a lot of different games this weekend, but I am really excited to get back into Second Life. I have a seven-year-old account, and my inventory is in some desperate need of house-cleaning. It will be my next Rise and Shiny game after I finish up with some Allods Online. Hopefully the SOE games will be back up and I can get back into my Station account. I miss my games! I'll also be crafting and trading in Illyriad and searching for more weird games to bring to the light.

MJ's columns on Aion have convinced me to download it again. I haven't played since beta and early after beta, so I am eager to see how it might have changed. I am hoping that I don't immediately have to start grinding; that would make me very sad. Generally, though, I will play anything I can get my hands on. One good screenshot can sucker me in, and I generally do not like reading about every single detail of the game before logging in. I would rather make mistakes and fumble my way through it.

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): It dawned on me that logging into Lord of the Rings Online to craft and make piles of gold when I've nothing to spend it on is pretty silly, so if by chance I get playtime this weekend, it'll probably be in Guild Wars, where I'm still slowly chipping away at my Hall of Monuments. And I have to say I'm excited for the City of Heroes reactivation period next week!

I'd never have tried out Zentia but for Beau's livestream. Now it's one of the few games I keep permanently installed on both my PC and my laptop.

Eliot Lefebvre: I've got an invasion to help repel in City of Heroes next week, so I need to brush up on my skills on a couple characters. Ms. Lady and I will continue to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV together, to boot. It's a family-heavy weekend for us, though, so overall, game time is going to be limited.

There's a huge number of games I would have never tried at all if not for working here, but I think the strangest one that ever happened was when a post of mine got me to resubscribe to CoH. An interview with an NCsoft rep was the first interview I ever did, and it convinced me to head back to the game after a long absence. Rubi inspired me to pick up Guild Wars again, as well.

Jef Reahard: I'd like to be playing my freshly-resubbed-for-a-flying-mount-and-prestige-house EverQuest II account as well as EVE and Age of Conan. So I'll be playing EVE Online and Age of Conan.

One of Beau's pieces prompted me to try Allods Online.

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster): Time willing, I'll be rotating between Lord of the Rings Online and RIFT, although I am feeling the urge to get back into Guild Wars before it's too late (the launch of Guild Wars 2 being "too late" in this case). I definitely feel bad for the SOE players this week who will be sitting around twiddling their thumbs... I know how frustrating it is when your game is simply not available.

Karen Bryan (@JayeRnH): I'll be playing RIFT, and if SOE comes back up, I'll also be in Pirates of the Burning Sea and hopefully EverQuest II.

As for the bonus question, I haven't specifically tried a game that a staff writer covered, but I do have to say that I'm no longer a monogamous gamer largely due to all the great columns that the Massively staff writes. So I blame them all!

Krystalle Voecks (@Krystalle): With Sony Online Entertainment's ongoing network outage, I've been unable to play DC Universe Online. This has, however, ensured that I've caught up on a lot of reading and movie-watching. If the game isn't up this weekend, I suspect I'll finally take the plunge into RIFT and spend some time tooling around in EVE.

As for games I've picked up solely due to another Massively staffer, not really. I will say I've gone back to games I've already tried and liked after reading columns by fellow staff members, however.

Matt Daniel: I'll finally be getting around to finishing up Portal 2 and the Mortal Kombat story mode as well as saying "FINISH HIM" in my best Shao Kahn voice every time he does. MMO-wise, RIFT and Lord of the Rings Online, as time allows.

And Beau seems to be the man of the hour. His article got me to give Allods a shot, too.

Patrick Mackey (@mackeypb): Hmm! I'm kind of playing it by ear this week. I still haven't played Champions Online's Resistance adventure pack (on PTS), and my team is pestering me to test it out. I've been wanting to go back to Cosmic Break for a while, and of course there's Hisoutensoku, although my scrub friends never practice.

Regarding the bonus question -- aside from just learning about World of Tanks on Massively (from one of the news writers), I can't say anyone here has really pushed me to play anything. I bought Global Agenda after a sale on Steam and played Cosmic Break way before MV ever covered it (if we ever did).

At the start of every weekend, we catch up with the Massively staff members and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as: WRUP!) Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game -- and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!