LFGryph

I missed a killer party today, thanks to work.

A player from The Secret World, Katarina1, wanted to do something cool for his third anniversary with the game. (We were just recently celebrating the game’s third anniversary, if that tells you something.) He didn’t just want to throw a party, either. He invited anyone and everyone to a party/prize giveaway/trivia match/survival game/screenshot contest/fireworks display event! Even though I missed it, it’s a great example of some of the reasons I love this community.

For starters, there’s Katarina1, a veteran player wanting to give the community an awesome event. He and his friends arranged all of the contests, and provided an insane amount of prizes. Rare cosmetic items, expensive signets, hard-to-find pets, the super rare motorcycle everyone wanted during the game’s anniversary…sooooo much stuff given away. Plus the 120 million Pax. Plus three huge giveaways that I’ll have to find out what exactly was given away. That’s not even including the Party Bags being popped. (Item store bags only available during ingame events, which give the player and up to 20 of the players closest to them a free cosmetic item, based on which event it’s from. These had been saved for this occasion.)

Another giveaway leads me to another awesome thing – 1200 Funcom points for each of three winners. Funcom itself supported this event, giving those points to be awarded as prizes. This is far from the first or only time they have contributed to a player-run event. RP events, podcasts, livestreams; Funcom and our community managers are amazing at working with players to help make their events a little more special.

If you notice some of the players in these screenshots wearing halos, that’s another Funcom gift, though not from this party. The halos are given out to recognize players who have gone above and beyond for the community. There is no other way to get the glowing halo ingame, they aren’t given often, and it’s a huge honor to receive one. I’ve always found it awesome that Funcom and the community managers would want to recognize the folks who put so much into their community.

This party also had its own dj’s from Gridstream Productions, one of two TSW radio stations. (The other being Radio Free Gaia.) Both radio stations are constantly sponsoring community events, throwing open parties ingame, and helping out players who would like some great music for their event.

My crew from the Beyond the Veil podcast were out there, we offered to livestream the event for players who couldn’t make it. (Little did I know I’d be one of them!) I like to think we do a pretty good job getting the news out about community projects and events, and generally trying to help out like today. We aren’t the only podcast, either. There’s The Secret Podcast, and honestly there may be more that I’m not even aware of. Our community likes projects…

Speaking of projects not directly related to today’s event, we also have players running countless websites and chat channels. There’s The Sanctuary Network, of course, providing help to new players through their forums and though /chat join sanctuary. There’s TSWDB, collecting mission guides, build advice, and anything else you want to know. Sephora’s Closet II collects information on all things cosmetic. The Secret World RP has a site to help stay connected while off the forums. Oh, also Noobmares  both online and ingame (/chat join noobmares) helping players new to Nightmare Dungeons and raids. For readers new to my blog, there was also the recent #IAMTSW contest, a major community/Funcom event/contest that I’ve previously mentioned.

With all that written, I still haven’t covered every piece of community involvement I’ve seen in this game. We have all kinds of great livestreamers like OtterDown, and I couldn’t begin to list all of the helpful cabals. Then there’s all the players who show up to support these events! I don’t mean to paint a false picture – people are people and no one always gets along with everyone. But this community’s base is such a healthy and helpful one, it constantly impresses me.

While this party was a one time event, the giving nature of everyone involved is rather more constant. That’s an important thing for me, and helps me remain positive about online gaming in general.

*Sidenote on #Blaugust: I find I’m more often coming to the blog with the thought, “What do I WANT to blog about?” instead of, “Ok, so what SHOULD I blog about?” It’s a positive change, and likely one of the reasons I’ve so far kept up with the daily posting.

Want to join in on #Blaugust? There’s still time! Visit the Blaugust Initiative page, and then head over to the Nook to get signed up and see what everyone else is up to