Archive for September, 2009

PETA Invades World of Warcraft to Save the Seals

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Animal rights group PETA is using World of Warcraft to launch a new propaganda campaign against Canadian seal hunters.
The campaign draws a parallel between the in-game slaughter of seals by Horde characters and the real-life hunting of seals in Canada.
“Thrall refused to ban the slaughter of seals, despite multiple requests from the Alliance to do so, because Orgrimmar stands to make a large profit from the fur,” writes PETA on its blog.
To stop the seal slaughter, the group is of course staging a violent assault on the game’s seal-populated Howling Fjord zone. A short piece of machinima was also produced to get the word out:

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo var s1 = new SWFObject(‘/extras/flow4/player.swf’,'player’,’480′,’272′,’9′);s1.addParam(‘allowscriptaccess’,'always’);s1.addParam(‘allowfullscreen’,'true’);s1.addParam(‘wmode’, ‘transparent’);s1.addParam(‘flashvars’,'plugins=gapro-1&gapro.accountid=UA-8643273-2&gapro.trackstarts=true&gapro.trackpercentage=true&gapro.tracktime=true’);s1.addVariable(‘config’,'/extras/flow4/configfeature.x’);s1.addVariable(‘file’, ‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcm-X0aKV0s’);s1.addVariable(‘image’,'http://www.shacknews.com/extras/Breckon/seal.jpg’);s1.write(‘vid14348′);
Article Source: www.shacknews.com.

Time Ranks Second Life as Worst Website

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Time magazine mentions Second Life as one of the worst of the web.
In a list of the top “Five Worst Websites,” Time magazine has placed virtual world Second Life among other internet plagues, including MySpace, Meez, Evite and eHarmony. The story cites many of the criteria critics have used against the site in the past, such as clunky controls and the mass marketers trying to stake some sort of digital claim to a small customer base.
The Time excerpt reads:
We’re sure that somebody out there is enjoying Second Life, but why? Visually, this vast virtual world can be quite impressive, but it’s notoriously slow to load (it runs on free software you have to download) and difficult to navigate, even with a broadband connection. You interact in the space through an avatar, but creating and personalizing this animated representation of yourself is tedious. Movements feel clunky and there can be a terrible lag. As on many sites, there’s a learning curve for novices, but Second Life’s is simply too steep. And there are crazy people around every corner – disruptive types that spread graffiti and get in your way and throw you off your groove. Fans praise Second Life as a virtual hangout where you can meet and chat and buy sneakers and real estate (that’s fake stuff for real money) and dance and go bowling and have sex – suggesting that “virtual humans” doing “human things” online in Second Life is somehow less pathetic than, say, cooking Kaldorei spider kabobs or making magic pantaloons in World of Warcraft. The corporate world’s embrace of the place as a venue for staff meetings and training sessions does seem to lend Second Life a layer of legitimacy. But maybe it’s a case of some CEOs trying too hard to be hip.
Article Source: www.escapistmagazine.com.

World of WarCraft Priest Talent Guide

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

1. Harass Members for Groups

This is a sure-fire way to fit in! Remember to ask in guild, at least 372 times, for a group. In between /g requests, be sure to /w every single guild member to ask them to go with you. After all, they may not have seen your requests in /g. After five long minutes of looking for a guild group, be sure to start whining about how no one will help you. Whining always works, and your guild-mates will appreciate how much you enrich guild chat with new and interesting complaints.

2. AFK

Once your guildies finally realize how selfish they were in ignoring your requests for a group, they’ll join you. As you fill the group, be sure to go AFK while everyone else heads to the instance. After all, a good guildie will summon you there. Once you’ve started the instance, be sure to go AFK frequently. They don’t need you there to heal or tank or cc or dps. Good guildies will just carry you through to get the rep or gear you’ve wanted.

3. Loot Whore

If you need it, take it! You need the gear so you can help the guild, right? I mean, so what if that drop is better for a feral druid? It’s got more AP than your current mail item. That drop off the second boss? You’d hate to see it DE’d, so you’ll take it! Good guildies will understand that you really do need everything. Besides, that guy that’s been in the guild 7 months longer than you have got that epic from Karazhan last night when it really should have gone to you…so you deserve all this and everyone knows it.

4. Know-it-All

You know this game inside and out, so be sure to share your wisdom with the guild. During 5 mans, tell everyone what to do. Sure, you play a warrior, but you have a lvl 13 priest, so dispensing advice to the healer is completely justified. When you’re in a raid, make sure you tell all the raid members how to do a boss fight, even if the raid leaders use a different strategy. Yours is better anyway. But be sure not to give away all your secrets! You wouldn’t want anyone honing in on your best farming spots.

5. E-peen Measuring Contests
Article Source: www.associatedcontent.com