I’m a 24 year old super social fashionista who loves nightclubbing with my homegirls, chugging imported beers with my collegiate peers, and browsing vintage boutiques for quirky additions to my wardrobe.

I’m also a grrl gamer.

Yes, the stereotypes are out there- you know, the overweight, glasses-wearing, greasy-skinned low self-esteem having outcast chick that has a penchant for gothic attire and ill-placed mascara. She’s not me, and moreover, I’m Black- fancy that. Just because I enjoy thrashing Bane in Tabula Rasa, questing with a Paladin in Everquest, or kicking back in my virtual mini-mansion with my closest Second Life friends doesn’t make me any less of a diva, it makes me one kick-arse, highly desirable girlie. I mean, what dude wouldn’t want to marry a woman he could depend on to heal him when he tanks a quest?

And guys- like you have room to talk! You bury yourselves into sports, holding Shaq up on a pedestal while I scratch at your leg like a forlorn kitty begging for a morsel of tuna; yet surprisingly you complain when my level 60 Necromancer gets more attention than does your boo-boo. Just like you need your NHL fix, I need to kick major booty in a non-illegal way. And trust me- you’re not as hot as you think.

Some of my friends think I’m absolutely loco for assuming a virtual manifestation of myself and buying things with my hard earned dollars that aren’t real. Some have even threatened to tell my mom, who knew that my hopeless addiction to internet chat rooms and 8-bit Nintendo would eventually progress to the hard drug known to my people as MMO’s. “Just don’t turn into one of those computer nerds with pale skin and acne,” she’d warn. Do you know what I say in response to their feigned pleas? Shove it. Yes, two little words with the uncanny ability to sum up my expletive tirade to all the naysayers who have over the years criticized my lifestyle choice-because as you know, being a gamer is hard work and long hours of finger manipulation.

Phew, and don’t get me started on virtual love. I’ve dated some wonderful guys offline that I’ve met in guilds or while sunbathing under the virtual sun in Second Life, and I can be the first to tell you that some of those relationships, however awkward in the beginning, were far more meaningful than the ones I’ve shared with a guy I’d met in a bar. While it’s true that some MMO hotties can be super creepy, there are good pools of men and elves looking for an amazingly interesting girl like you to fight Thrax or whatever enemies lay in your path.

Girls, call me Karla Marx; I’d be more than obliged if you’d compared my rant to a new-age communist manifesto of the gaming variety, a declaration of independence from grrl gamer stereotypes. You’re awesome, and can still be a hip and fashionable gaming diva.

Vive la Grrl Gamer Revolution!

From day one, people have been nothing but nice to me overall.

I've recieved Linden Dollars from people who I just met, have gotten gifts, and have experienced such a friendly atmosphere that I didn't think was possible.

People not only go out of their way to welcome you, but they usually stay and chat for a while and offer to teach you things, too. A user I met today showed me the beginnings of how to build, even though I even said I had to leave in two minutes! He showed me how to make an ice cream cone.

I made a friend when I walked into a mall today. She IMed me out of the blue, and I ended up having long conversations with her while camping for my first time. Although camping only earns 2 L$ every 15 minutes, it goes very quickly with good conversation. :3

I've made a number of friends, which I usually struggle with in real life. It's been an awesome time that I'll have to talk about later, since I'm very tired right now. ^_^;

~Zaikea

California, U.S.A. (July 3, 2008) – Aeria Games is proud to announce the open beta of the highly anticipated free-2-play massive-multiplayer RPG, Stone Age 2.

Set in the prehistoric ages, Stone Age 2 brings a mixture of dinosaurs of unimaginable heights and invisible spirits who help humans roam altered terrains such as dungeons and arid desserts.

Catch cute dinosaur pals and raise them to be battle masters and fight primeval threats alongside friendly allies. Duel against other players and creatures by building up your team with a combination of over 200 dinosaur species – each with unique personalities and special abilities. Enter your dinosaur pals into battle tournaments or just ride them around town.

For a limited time, new players will have the ability to snatch up the following items, absolutely free, just for checking out the wonderful world of Stone Age 2.

• One Small Shell Axe - Arm yourself for adventure with this free weapon that'll see you through many days of hard fighting!

• Ten Fruit of Perception - Each Fruit of Perception doubles the Experience you receive from battles for two hours - what a sweet snack!

• Five Wizard's Feed Soups - Each cup of this mystical broth raises the Loyalty and Mood of one Pal straight to 100! Perfect for quickly turning a wild Pal into a trusted companion!

• Five Dinosaur Cookies - Because dinosaurs ate cookies too; it's just that none of them fossilized so we have no record. You might want to try one of these when your endurance is low.

• One Fresh Milk - because cookies with no milk would simply be ... barbarian of us.

One addition to open beta is a new tournament structure that will be available for all weight classes and they will run 24 hours a day seven days a week and feature instant prize distribution after each tournament has been completed.

For more information on closed open beta for Stone Age 2, please visit http://stoneage2.aeriagames.com.

There are six main schools of magic and a meta-school that modifies the use of the other six. The three external schools are Fire, Ice, and Storms, and they relate to the ancient Titans that ruled the world in the Days Before (dragons, giants, and tritons). There are three internal schools, Myth, Life, and Death, which encompass the internal powers of the mind, body, and spirit. The school of Balance blends all of these. Each of the six major schools exhibits a feel and philosophy, in rhythm with its own nature. In addition, each of the three inner schools dwells in the midst of two outer schools, drawing some small part of themselves from those framing forces.

Outer Schools

The spells of the outer or external schools focus their energies on somehow requiring other beings to serve you or do your bidding. Each school has its own particular method of doing such, but each one needs minion creatures to be effective.

School of Fire (Passion)

"If the Mind is like a candle, the Heart is like the sun."
Fire is passion, the bright, burning flame of raw emotion sweeping over everything in a relentless embrace. Those who follow the Fire Art, known as Pyromancers, are tempestuous, quick to anger, and deeply immersed in whatever drives them at the moment. They discover that it is necessary to walk a fine line with fire; having great passion and enthusiasm for one's loves in life is good, but watch out, lest that passion burn you up and consume you, leaving you nothing but a charred husk of your former self. Pyromancers use Incantations to dominate and coerce fire creatures to do their bidding. The Fire Arts trace their origins back to the fierce Fire Dragons, the race of Titans that ruled the land in the Days Before.

Company Launches New Website for Beta Enrollment; Opens Community Site with Sports Forums, Trivia and Blogs

FOXBORO, Massachusetts – July 3, 2008 – Play Hard Sports, Inc., the first studio in North America to develop, publish and distribute interactive fantasy sports games and entertainment over the Internet, today announced the official sign up program for the company’s beta launch of its football game. The new website, www.playhardsports.com, provides an early look and feel for the Company’s first title game, Play Hard Football, being released in fall of 2008.

The new site allows prospective players to sign up for the beta program and get ‘first dibs’ on a team name for the upcoming gridiron season. The site also contains a sport trivia game, a video teaser, Play Hard Knockout photos and developer diaries from the team’s Game Design Director. The site will also be home to the forthcoming Play Hard community, where sports fans can come for information and chats with active and retired NFL players, participate in online forums and read about Play Hard’s game latest developments.

“This is an exciting first milestone for us as a company,” said Jeff Anderson, CEO of Play Hard Sports. “We are redefining the online gaming market by bringing sports fans something they have been waiting for – Interactive Fantasy Sports. This beta site is just the beginning of what fans can come to expect from Play Hard Sports.”

To sign up now and start your journey to gridiron glory, visit www.playhardsports.com.

On day two of photo the day started off well. I didn't have many orders and I maintained good times. This would change after lunch. One of the customers came back and complained about his picture CD. It turns out that on the CD his pictures were upside down. I told him the easiest way to fix this is to copy them to his PC and flip them. He responded by saying that he shouldn't have to and that we made the mistake and in turn fix it. I also told him that it was the way the film was developed and run through the machine. He again said that we should be accountable for "mistakes" like this. I walked over to the assistant manager working that night and told him the details. They told me to get the CD and leave it overnight for the main photo technician to work on, so I got the CD and told the douchebag that I'd leave it for her to fix. Later on I was working on some film orders when the machine suddenly started spitting it out and telling me the film was too big even though it was the normal 35mm size. I was baffled. To try and work around I attempted to manually scan the film (something we usually do often when things screw up). I put one of the film strips in and it seemed to scan fine. On the second roll the machine seemed to work but then came back out and the machine continued to say scanning. I tried to see if I could cancel it as it locked up the machine. No luck. The machine was literally locked up. I tried all I could but couldn't get it back to normal. I again talked to the manager that night and told him. He checked it and agreed that something wasn't right. Again I left a note for the main tech. At that point I was freaked out that I might have screwed everything up and that I would be held responsible if it broke. The only good part to this story is that it was after closing so no other customers where dropping orders off. Since I have been off the last two days I don't know the status of the machine but I will find out today. The main tech is also working so I expect to hear something about it. She doesn't like me much so I know it will be on the negative side. Just dandy.

As for the last two days off I haven't done much. Just sit around watching TV or playing games. I got a new book which seems like it will be fun to read. It's called Seagalogy - A Story of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal. Although before I read it I need to finish up World War Z. I also have Battle Royale but I think after WWZ and Seagalogy I will start it over since it has been a while since I have read it. Another thing I have done is download the trial for Lord of the Rings Online. I was at Best Buy the other day and looked at the MMO section. I haven't paid for a MMO since back in the days of Earth & Beyond. The only other MMO I really played was Guild Wars but I am burned out on it. LOTRO seems interesting so I'll give it a shot. The other two I was looking at were EVE Online but it seems to complicated and the last was Age of Conan which seems cool but I wish there was a trial so I could try it without jumping in fully and then possibly not liking it.

As for today, I work. My parents and brother are driving down to SoCal to visit my step or half brother or whatever he is. He is in the country for a little bit it seems with his Korean girlfriend (he works for the Army at the DMZ or something). My dad's ex-wife asked if we wanted to see him but since I have to work it doesn't apply to me. She tried to set it for tomorrow but I work until Monday so it wouldn't work anyway. I guess she really wanted me to see him or something. Oh well. So the three of them are headed down while I work. Fun 4th.

Discover the sequel of this eagerly awaited saga on your PC screens today!

For more than a year, the players of Gunbound have been coming together and facing off on the many maps of the game. From the 26th June, European players from the free online game portal GOA.COM will find out what’s new in Gunbound season 2!

There is a little something for everyone in season 2. On the one hand, experienced players will discover the many new additions making battles even more exciting. On the other hand, new players will also be able to take advantage of the new tutorial mode which will guide them through the different game strategies step by step.

For all those who think they know Gunbound inside out, newly added features will allow you to enhance your character’s abilities! In addition to brand new music which will liven up your encounters, players will also discover:

- The Powerball game mode. Depending on the balls you hit with your mobile, you can, among other things, get more Gold and cause more damage...

- Three new moons:
Black: this force will suck up the strength from an attack, making it more or less harmless by reducing missile damage by up to 50%.
Joker: the moon applies a random effect on missiles crossing the force column.
Mirror, the third moon, reflects all the shots that hit it.

- Shortcuts to customise your avatar or mobile without having to leave the waiting room.

- Reorganised servers to help you find opponents more readily.

The game will keep on getting better with four new maps, emoticons, two new mobiles and the upcoming arrival of the Guilds (and of their own dedicated servers). There will also be new items to help you reach your strategic goals.

For additional information: http://goa.com/#/gunboundhome/

Gunbound is a free online game from the GOA.COM portal, developed by Softnyx and published by GOA.

WHAT:
The EverQuest®II Living Legacy “Fight with Legends” promotional program rewards current EverQuest II (EQII) players with free gameplay for each new player they invite into the game between now and the end of August who converts to an active subscription for the game. For the first time ever, existing EQII players can take advantage of this opportunity to invite friends to join them in-game and play together regardless of experience level and, in return, earn up to 20 months of free EQII game time.

“Fight with Legends” Program Details
In-Game Events: The Living Legacy in-game events continue with legendary activities that all players can participate in, including exciting new game updates and uncovering Void content themed around the upcoming expansion.

Mentoring System: Current players will be able to play with friends of any level and utilize the Mentoring System to receive an added bonus experience boost when teaching less experienced "legends" the ways of Norrath.

Guides Program: Skilled players can join the Guides program to help others experience all of the excitement that EQII has to offer. The Guides will be recognized for their service in EQII later this month in a video which showcases each one of them, as well as a feature story on www.eq2players.com and a presentation at the annual SOE Fan Faire in August.

Current Player Recruitment Rewards: Active paying EQII subscribers receive one month of free EQII gameplay time (to be added at the end of their then-current subscription) per new account invitee (up to a limit of 20 friends) who converts to a paying EQII subscription within 30 days of the conclusion of that friend's trial period.

New Recruits: All participants can access the EverQuest®II Rise of Kunark™ all-in-one digital game client and various bonus in-game items during the promotional period and keep a complimentary digital copy upon conversion to a monthly subscription plan. Upon completion of free play period, when the new player converts to paying monthly subscription they will receive a US$5.00 discount (or local currency equivalent) off of the next expansion(scheduled for release in Fall 2008) if purchased through SOE’s Station Store by December 21, 2008.

View the full event schedule to learn more about upcoming activities at http://livinglegacy.station.sony.com/everquest2-calendar.vm

WHEN: The “Fight with Legends” program begins Thursday, July 3rd and runs until Sunday, August 31st.

WHERE: www.everquest2.com 
Art assets are available for download at www.soepress.com

WHAT:
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is providing players the unique opportunity to become an actual living legacy and immortalize themselves in Legends of Norrath™ and EverQuest® or EverQuest®II history with the Living Legacy Photo Contest!

SOE will select two winners, one EverQuest player and one EverQuest II player, who will each have their photo likeness crafted into a Legends of Norrath online trading card illustrated by SOE artist Kieran Yanner for release in a future Legends of Norrath set. To enter, players can submit an unenhanced or unaltered digital picture of themselves dressed up as their favorite EQ or EQII character. Each winner will also receive a trip to the SOE Fan Faire 2008 for the unveiling of his or her Legends of Norrath image at the Grand Banquet scheduled for Aug. 16, 2008, in Las Vegas, Nev., as well as a print of their winning image and a special in game likeness in EQ or EQII, depending upon game preference.

SOE will be accepting entries from June 30, 2008, through July 23, 2008. Players should feel free to have fun with their photo entries: Use a bath towel to mimic a flowing cape; hold a rake like a menacing halberd; or shine a light from the floor or from overhead to create interesting shadows. The more you give Kieran to work with, the more interesting your image will be, and the better chance you have to win! Look for entries posted throughout the contest at www.legendsofnorrath.com.

WHEN:
SOE will be accepting entries from June 30, 2008, through July 23, 2008.

WHERE:
For more details on the contest and how to enter click here for the Official Rules.

WHO:
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online entertainment industry.

Get the video from this URL: http://top.igg.com/upload/top.wmv.

Too good to be True? A free MMO verion of Warcraft.

I was recently introduce to a free version of Word of Warcraft (WoW) the name of the private server is Wowscape. The game is pretty much the same and it has attracted many freeloaders to this MMO genre. After downloading the WoW Clients you have to run WoWscape's patch and you are ready to adventure.  I am sure with the $0 dollar price tag it will attract many unsavoury players. But me thinks that this is a good promotion for Blizzard to dominate the MMO space again.

WoWscape Hacked

But after creating my character and doing some mundane quests, I could not get any much more into WoW. Maybe its because I am more of a Final Fantasy XI online person. Still I did not expect that WoW will get an opensource version. The Server also runs on the latest WoW games WoW: The Burning Crusade. I wonder if Blizzard will let this slide or its lawyers come taking down this operation.

Wowscape has a detailed intruction page on how to sign p and play on its servers, you will however not be able to transfer your character / items to Blizzard official servers, but if you are curious about the WoW craze and its still going strong, you might want to check this version of WoW out.

I don't play WoW anymore, but if there's one thing that would get me back into the game is if Wrath of the Lich King is any good, so I hope I get selected to participate in the beta, as I did with Age of Conan.

Check out the World of Warcraft site (link below) for more details.

Link:
World of Warcraft Official Site

Dear players

As you know there has been quite some confusion about premium accounts and unavailable trait points. The confusion has to a large extent been due to vague communication on our part and therefore we will compensate you in the following way:

Anyone who is a Premium member at 2PM (Swedish time) on Monday July 7th 2008 will receive all their unavailable points to their available balance at that time. People going premium between this point and then will get half the points now (as it is currently implemented)

After this, the bonus we had of retroactively receiving half the trait points will be removed. Unavailable points will not even be visible to the player until we have added the feature of paying tribute for unavailable traitpoints.

As this might seem unfair to players who paid for premium earlier (even if they now too get all unavailable points) we will add a number of free days to their account equal to how many days ago (from July 3rd) they went premium.

We also got Click and Buy to make a few changes for us in their automatic fraud detection system which should decrease the verification needs, at least for some people and hopefully enable them to make their purchase. We will continue to work on adding more options as well

I want to thank all of you that has taken time to discuss this in the forums. Your involvement and opinions are important to us.

You could help us in expanding our billing system!If you know any potential business partners for WYD Global's E-Pin / Prepaid Card Distribution, or resellers, kindly send it to our email at marketing@wydglobal.com.

Prizes will be given away to those lucky players if their suggested distributors or business partners have been approve.

Thank you and good luck.

WYD Global Team

Regarding to players who already used the scrolls before this announcement, kindly report to our Q&A so that we can check it in our logs. There will be refunds for players who used the scrolls if proven wasted by the bug.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

Thank you.

WYD Global Team

DC Universe is an MMO for PS3 and pc develop by SOE. It will also include justice league of america. Some developers from everquest will work on this MMO game. There superheroes and villains in this as well. Not much from the trailer of actual gameplay except for some picture.

Do not buy on http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-eac690a32355bfe8440ebbe671060337.jhtml any coins, gold or items coming from this site. We do not tolerate this kind of transaction in Wydglobal.
Anyone caught using this transaction will be given proper sanctions.

Note: For those who already used or purchased from this site kindly inform us immediately to avoid blocking of accounts.

Thank You.

WYDGlobal Team

David Perry, Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim (in that company's new, F2P-only format) and Kyra Reppen, SVP of Nickelodeon, send word of very compelling vacancies in their respective companies. Nickelodeon's posting is based in LA whereas Acclaim seems open to remote-work scenarios. Kudos to Acclaim!

I promised I'd post their opps on freetoplay.biz. Click through for the full text of each posting.

Company: ACCLAIM GAMES, Inc.

Job Title: DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION

Description: This is a very important Director role at Acclaim, which is now the biggest free-to-play American games publisher.

Note: We accept resumes for other levels of production also.

Skills we value (the more on the list below, the better):
- Experienced producing large scale multiplayer games.
- Experienced producing MMOG, MMORPG games.
- Experienced producing Flash / casual / mass market based games.
- Experienced producing Social / Facebook / MySpace Games.
- Experienced producing Avatar based games.
- Experienced with free to play / micro-transactions / virtual item sales.
- Experience with in-game advertising techniques.
- Experience working with both domestic & foreign development teams.
- Experience reporting to and strategizing with the top levels of management.
- Experience pitching and presenting projects & plans
- Understanding of Web marketing techniques (SEO, Viral etc.)
- Experience managing staff that directly report.
- Educational accolades add value also.
- Must be willing to travel globally to represent the company.

Salary:
Salary is based on experience.
Minimum Package contains stock options, bonus, full medical, dental, vision etc.

Location.
Los Angeles is definitely preferred (our headquarters are in Hollywood), however Acclaim is an extremely forward-thinking company with staff all over the world, and we have no issue with you working from any location in the world. (So moving is not required.)

----------------------------------

Company: MTV Networks
Job Title: VP, Production, Nickelodeon Kids & Family Virtual Worlds Group
Nickelodeon Kids & Family Virtual Worlds Group

Nickelodeon Kids & Family Virtual Worlds Group which oversees an exciting pipeline of virtual world and casual MMOG development, based in Los Angeles, seeks a Vice President to manage production across multiple titles.

The recently announced Nickelodeon Kids & Family Virtual Worlds Group manages all company virtual world initiatives for kids, tweens, teens and families, including the original youth-oriented virtual community of Neopets, Nickelodeon’s online playground for kids, Nicktropolis and all new initiatives. The group will focus on the innovation of the company’s existing worlds with projects like World of Neopia (working title) and of the expansion of Nicktropolis with a premium layer. It will also develop original properties like the recently announced Monkey World and others based on Nickelodeon properties.

Responsibilities:
• Manage ‘studio’ across resources, budgets, scheduling and outside vendors
• Directly manage producers and resource managers (both development and live teams)
• Ensure on time and on budget delivery of multiple concurrent products
• Work closely with Creative Director and head of Marketing to ensure products meet their objectives
• Partner with technology team to ensure collaborative and efficient working environment
• Foster collaboration and cross-functional team building
• Lead and adapt production processes across the organization
• Identify, hire and manage outside vendors and contract resources and budgets
• Manage development, milestone and release schedules

Requirements:
• 5-10 years of games industry experience, with MMOG experience a plus
• Experience managing producers and leading / motivating cross-functional teams
• Successful track record for launching games on time, on budget and meeting creative and marketing objectives
• Exceptional verbal / written communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong technical and business acumen

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::