So this is my first blog on the site and there are many more to come after this. Currently I'm sitting on the train to Liverpool however when I post this it will probably be when I get back home. Either way I'm here thinking of WOW and wishing I had a 3G dongle that would let me play WOW remotely, iphone won't do the trick cuz the transfer would be too low and the latency would generally suck.

Just as a general warning this is probably going to be a long spiel about how addicted I am to World of Warcraft. I didn't generally feel that I was this addicted until it got to the point where I would talk about WOW more at work than I did work... well maybe that's not completely the case but I talked about WOW a whole bunch. In fact I just started up a new character on Doomhammer, about 30 mins with the help of a 70 and I was lvl 6. w00t! Yeah not really, but it's always fun when you start a new toon and you level up every few minutes.

I guess I'm writing this to see whether there are any other wowers out there who wish to join me in some general discussions about our other world. I mean... I have a very colorful and busy life outside of WOW and I tend to chose to do things outside of the game than to just say no to my friends “Not tonight! I'm playing WOW!”. Nah, that's not the case, but WOW is a great way to escape the real world when you need a break, cuz I sure do like being a bad-A mage or lock and kicking butt and taking names. Wish I could do that here sometimes, would help out a lot. Think about getting mugged – just DOT the mugger or have someone tank him and just to make sure have a shammy or priest around for healing support (meaning NHS goes out of business – meaning less money taken out of our paychecks).

I did come across the opinion of “why would you pay a monthly fee to pay some dumb game?” Well... what about all the people paying monthly subscriptions to play XBOX live or the people going out to the pub every weekend... or every day? Pretty sure I spend less money playing WOW and buying beer at the local Sommefield's. In the end, you play what you like and what you like makes you happy – that's the most important thing.

So I encourage... even a heated discussion about the topic of World of Warcraft. If you don't like it, say so. I would like to hear your opinion (maybe you'll heal me of the addiction ;) If you do like it then all the merrier... maybe we'll eventually all migrate to one realm and create a Native guild =D

Look at that... almost at Liverpool, guess that's it for now. Toodles from the train to all Natives.

-Krispi

As you may have noticed, I've not had quite so much time to devote to DN since I started my new job. What this means is that it's now more important than ever to get our natives here to pitch in and get some more content up. I have decided that the best way to do this is bribary...

That's why we're starting a competition for you guys, to reward you when you do anything for the site, no matter what. Basically, every time you write a review, make a meaningful post in the forum, or write a blog, you'll get some points. Whoever has the most points at the end of the month, gets to do that months Big Review (TM). That means that you'll be sent a game. You'll find out what it is when it arrives, as I don't know what it will be yet myself :-)

Point values are:

Review (200 words approx): 10 points

Blog: 7 points

New forum topic (with over five replies): 5 points

Attend a sheduled Native Team game on the Calendar: 3 points

Reply in a forum: 1 point

I'll be totting them all up at the end of the month using the site statistics. The idea behind all of this is that the more active the site is, the more fun it is for everyone. And you might get the big win. Considering that this site is still in its infancy, you've got a pretty good chance. Obviously I'll not be counting anything that isn't meaningful in some way - so millions of forum posts saying "give me a game" aren't going to do you any favours...

We'll see how we get on this month - if people take me up on this, it could become a regular feature.

So we've got a new reviews section, which should be a lot better than the previous one, you'll be pleased to know!  It is now generally more informal, so that anyone can log on and add a review.

There are two ways to do this.  You can add a review to a current game listing (i.e. by clicking on the game name and adding a review by clicking the button at the bottom of the page).   Or, if the game you want to review isn't listed, you just have to click on "Add new listing", which is located on the main reviews page.

I'll be adding the odd help guide soon - but in the meantime, have fun!  The whole idea of this is to make reviewing a little more democratic, so go ahead and get your thoughts down.

NOTE:  The reviews section is still only a beta - there are a couple of known cosmetic issues that will be fixed!

So, following the random hype over Google's new 'competitor' to Second Life, called Lively, I thought I'd go and check it out. I have to say that I didn't really get on very well with Second Life, but even I don't think this is directly competing, to be honest. It's more along the lines of Habbo Hotel, but less pixelarty (which is a bad thing). In other words it's just a 3D chat room aimed at teenagers.

However, I still had to try it out. If you care, feel free to muck around with it, if only to see what all the fuss is about. The "shop for more" links are all free.