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Patreon’s 3 million supporters are good news for independent creators
Patreon has had one clear goal since it launched in 2013: to help artists, influencers and internet creators make money by letting them offer membership services directly to their fans. And that effort seems to be paying off. Today, Patreon announced there are now over three million people supporting creators on its site, of which there are more than 100,000 to date. What's also notable is that the company was able to accomplish this milestone in a rapid manner, going from two to three million supporters (aka patrons) worldwide in just one year.
Twitter’s new interactive cards help you slide into brands’ DMs
Twitter has been working hard to find new ways for brands and advertisers to connect with its users, especially since becoming a public company in 2013. Hey, shareholders need to make that money. But while customer service experiences are clearly a major focus for the social network, its latest business feature is more about brands luring you into their DMs with "fun and engaging" promoted tweets. With the new Direct Message Card, advertisers can create up to four customizable actions and pair them with images or videos to, hopefully, get you to click and see their pitch.
Trion boosts RIFT's subscriber benefits
RIFT subscribers are getting some benefit boosts, according to a new Trion website blurb. Patrons already enjoy extra currency, summons, mount speed, artifact tracking, daily quests, bonus loot, and store discounts. Now, though, they'll also receive 40 percent experience, favor, notoriety, prestige, and token boosts. New benefits also include faster planar ability cooldowns, a fast pass teleport, and more! In other RIFT news, Trion adjusted the Stormcaller soul in yesterday's hotfix.
Trion details ArcheAge's patron status, APEX system
Trion has detailed its plans for Patron status in ArcheAge, which it says takes a cue from the company's experience in converting RIFT to a free-to-play business model. Patron status is basically ArcheAge's premium service tier, though Trion says it isn't required to play and instead "adds to the fun." Patrons will get: • Bonus online Labor Point regeneration (10 per 5 minutes) • Offline Labor Point regeneration (5 per 5 minutes) • Increased maximum Labor Points cap (5000 maximum) • 10% bonus to all Experience gained through combat or labor usage • 10% discount on Marketplace purchases • 5 Loyalty Tokens per day for use in the Loyalty Store (awarded on first login of the day) • Ability to claim land by placing farms and houses • Ability to pay in-game taxes on owned property • Ability to post auctions on the Auction House by default Trion has also announced APEX, an in-game item that grants credits when consumed and that can be sold on the game's auction house or traded between players. Much like EVE Online's PLEX, APEX will allow "industrious" ArcheAge players to pay for Patron status via their gameplay rather than real money. There's more to Trion's announcement, too, including possible F2P house ownership, so click through the links below to read the rest!
ArcheAge FAQ mentions testing plans, optional subscription, and housing limitations [Update]
Trion Worlds has published a new FAQ for ArcheAge today that concentrates on testing plans and core features of its upcoming Western version. The team said that alpha testing is imminent and will be followed by beta events leading up to launch, still set for sometime in 2014. While fans can sign up on the site for a chance at a key, Trion said that soon-to-be-revealed founders packs will guarantee beta access. ArcheAge will be adopting a hybrid F2P model including an optional subscription. This subscription will be necessary if a player wants to own his or her own house in the game, as the "limited real estate" will be earmarked for paying customers only. Trion addressed its level of control over the title in its relationship with developer XLGAMES and indicated that the Korean 1.0 patch changes will not be coming to the West: "We work with XLGAMES to understand and new features that are added to ArcheAge in the East to determine how well they will be accepted in our regions, and then offer feedback. XLGAMES has been fantastic in addressing that feedback as best as they can. In situations where a feature is added that we don't think will be appropriate for our audiences, we work with XLGAMES to modify or remove that feature from our version." [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
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!
Palo Alto Library to loan out Google Chromebooks alongside real books
Google has teamed up with the Palo Alto Library to offer its Chromebooks on loan, as part of a pilot program slated to kick off in January. As Wired explains, the Silicon Valley library has long offered laptops for visitors to use, though these devices were only available for two-hour windows, and were forbidden from leaving the premises. A few months ago, however, Google approached the library about offering Chromebooks for longer periods, in the hopes of bringing the device's cloud-based "shareability" to a wider audience. Palo Alto's librarians tried out 21 Chromebooks over the course of one month before deciding to loan them out for one-week periods, beginning next year. The notebooks have been available for on-grounds use for the past month, though according to Senior Librarian Jessica Goodman, the institution's Windows-based laptops are still more popular among patrons. "People would try it and say, 'That was pretty cool. I wish I could do word processing with that,'" Goodman told Wired, adding that the forthcoming one-week loans should give users more time to familiarize themselves with the device, and "spark a little bit of interest." East Coasters, meanwhile, can reap similar benefits at the Samsung Experience store in New York, where Chromebooks are now available on loan from the Chrome Zone. Check out the source link for more details.
Having fun with the Patron/Matron titles
There's some fun to be had out there with everyone's new Patron and Matron titles. And by fun I clearly mean instituting a level of confusion and raised eyebrows that only a transformative romp through the wilds of Storms Peaks can give you.First, you want to get your title from Children's Week. And with the exception of School of Hard Knocks the title shouldn't be hard to get.Secondly, display the title and fly out to Brunnhildar Village. You want to head towards the area where you change forms into a Hyldnir Frost Vrykul. You know, the big blue women.As you form goes "poof," so will your title. If you were a man and are now a woman, you gain the Matron title. Don't you feel special now? Of course as soon as you fly out from the area and shapeshift automagically back to your original form, your title will change back as well.There are reports in which people have experienced similar behavior being sheeped in PvP. Apparently all sheep are male? Who knows...Have fun with this, but not too much fun.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Children's Week achievements
All right, folks, we've got another sub-achievement needed for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been (and thus the 310% speed Violet Proto-Drake) on our hands here. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that most of the achievements for Children's Week are fairly straightforward, and should be easy (and even fun) to complete. Appropriately enough for a mini-holiday, most of the achievements are simple, amusing, and not too time-consuming. The bad news is that one of the achievements may be a huge headache to get done, and unlike Noblegarden, your character has to be at least 75 in order to get all of the achievements needed for the year-long meta. Children's Week runs from Friday, May 1st at midnight through Thursday, May 7th at 11:59 PM. Got your kiddo? Let's get cracking.EDIT: This article's been revised and updated to reflect new information and the hotfixes that have gone live since initial publication. All information herein should be accurate as of 11:30 AM EST Saturday May 2nd.
