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Hyperspace Beacon: Don't be surprised if your website is mentioned here

Larry Everett — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Podcasts, New titles, Opinion, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon

The Hyperspace Beacon is your guide through the various twists, turns, and barrel-roles of the yet-to-be-released game Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is being produced by the super-duper developers at BioWare-EA.

As we all wait anxiously for the open scroll of Star Wars: The Old Republic, more fansites are donning their Jedi robes and igniting their lightsabers. Some have have been around for a while now, and others are just getting off the ground, but all these holocrons of SWTOR lore are finding their true destiny in webspace. Some of these websites stand out as potential Jedi Masters, and I would like to take a moment to take note of them.

A few months back, the first Hyperspace Beacon was launched. It recognized sites like Darth Hater and the Jedi Archive. Since then, more have proven to be beacons of light in the blackness of cyberspace. So, in an effort to keep the SWTOR community page up to date, I have explored the reaches hyperspace to find beacons of new hope.

Set your navicomputer to follow me after the break. As Matt from TOROCast may say: Don't be surprised if your website is mentioned here.

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Hyperspace Beacon: Don't be surprised if your website is mentioned here originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official Age of Conan database offers easy info

Kyle Horner — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, News items

MMOs see updates quite frequently, and with games that have developers actively posting on forums an attentive community member can absorb plenty of useful information. However, not everyone is up to the task of tracking all news, dev posts and dev blogs on every little topic. This is where Age of Conan's "New Community Database" enters the picture.

Handled by the community team at Funcom, the database will serve as an easily accessible source of pertinent game-related information about updates old, new, small and big. Everything from minor content stuff to full-on expansions, like Rise of the Godslayer. The website is still partially in beta as content is being added and knobs are being tweaked and dialed for maximum performance. So if in your venture for precious information you run aground due to a lack of content or technical issues, don't be all too surprised.

Having an official wiki isn't a bad idea. With time and attention there's no doubt many a person will find the source of info highly useful. In fact, we've already discovered a great use for it right here, although that particular opinion is arguably of a subjective nature.

Official Age of Conan database offers easy info originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Where in the wiki is Mitra?

Akela Talamasca — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Age of Conan, Contests, Lore, Quests, News items

The fine folks over at AoCWiki have noticed that the Hyborean god Mitra has gone missing, and need our help to find him. The strange bit is: he's lost somewhere in the Wiki! So, to help recover him, readers are being solicited to go through the Wiki and follow a series of clues that will reveal the location of the missing god. Do it for the Hyboreans, whose prayers to Mitra have gone unanswered! Or, simply do it for these flash prizes:

Five (5) Age of Conan Beta keys
Five (5) Age of Conan 3-month pre-paid game cards

And, of course, the respect and admiration of your peers. Unless, of course, you beat them to the win, in which case, watch for arrows in your back. The rules and full details of this contest are available on the referring page. This contest has begun, and continues until April 21st. Put on your sleuthing helmets, warriors, and help find Mitra! Personally, we think it's Crom's fault.

Where in the wiki is Mitra? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: How gamers are adopting the wiki way

Barb Dybwad — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Culture, Events, real-world, Tabula Rasa, Massively Event Coverage

One of the many excellent sessions in the ScreenBurn track at SXSW Interactive this year, the "How Gamers Are Adopting the Wiki Way" panel featured George Pribul (lead admin of WoWWiki.com), April "CuppaJo" Burba (Community Manager for Tabula Rasa), Angelique Shelton (GM of Wikia Gaming at Wikia Inc), and Jake McKee (Principal at Ant's Eye View) talking about the symbiotic relationship between gamers and wikis. Interesting factoid: WoWWiki is now the second largest English-language wiki in the world behind Wikipedia. At 3 million unique users per month, a full half of English-speaking WoW players visit WoWWiki every month.

One of the initial questions was the obvious, "Why wikis?" Pribul answered that forums, the traditional places where gamer communities gather, aren't very good formats for organizing information. Wikis not only organize information very well but allow community collaboration on data that changes over time. A question from the audience next asked about the significance of wikis for other industries besides gaming. Shelton responded, "Whatever people have a natural passion about, and any way you can enable your customers to come together and collaborate on their passion -- wikis are an amazing tool for that. Individuals can step up and take ownership of something." She mentioned that people often wonder why anyone would want to write content for free, and used a basketball analogy to counter that: even though you could get paid to do it in the NBA, people still play pickup games on the street. The social dynamics within a wiki give participants pride, attribution, and community elevation -- people get social status for sharing this information.

Gallery: SXSW 2008

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SXSW08: How gamers are adopting the wiki way originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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