Watched this week's So You Think You Can Dance competition and results shows this evening with dinner, and I couldn't help but notice that Caitlin in her pasa doble garb bore a striking resemblance to a certain elf us EQ'ers are very familiar with:

Well, at least it's born in Free Realms…I have no idea where it was born elsewhere. :p

Yesterday, Free Realms introduced guilds (official notice here), and of course I had to login immediately to try to get a good name. Creating a guild is incredibly easy; anyone can do it. No, seriously…ANYONE. All by themselves. No fellow players needed. I'm sure there are going to be loads of "guilds of one" out there, but hey, it's a kids' game, so everything's pretty simple.

Once you create your guild, you're given a temporary guild name consisting of the founding character's name. In my case, it was "Seagoat Skyrune's Guild." Original, right? Then comes the task of picking a good guild name that won't get auto-rejected OR manually rejected by the guild name reviewers.

First I tried "Elemental." Auto-rejected. Not sure why, but hey.

Next up was "Jumjum Bandits." That one got manually rejected…I think it was the "bandits" part, but who really knows for sure?

Finally I tried "Twilight Alliance," and that one stuck. Yay! Third time really is the charm, I guess.

Coming soon: Guild halls!!

Those of us who actually stayed up-to-date on the concert knew that it may start 15 or 30 minutes late, so we weren't nearly as frustrated as the kids who were ready for it to start at 4:00pm Pacific on the dot.

While it was disappointing that they showed up, played the one song, and then left (with encore performances at 4:45pm Pacific and again at 5:00pm Pacific), it was still a lot of fun. Here are a few of the screenies I captured during the concert:

I finally got around to updating my Characters page…everybody's there, so keep an eye out for me in-game.

I've been puttering around in Free Realms since shortly after it launched, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the game.

Up front, I want to point out that I'm a Station Access subscriber, so all the Members-only content is open to me. This post is written from that perspective, so if you're not a Member, realize that not everything that is mentioned below applies to you.

First of all, I'm having an absolute blast. I've only got one character so far, but that's really all I need at this point! You can do anything in the world — literally; every single occupation in the entire game world is open to any character at any time. I've unlocked most of the jobs, although there are only a few that I've leveled up in to any degree.

When I initially heard about some of the mechanics in FR, I thought for sure they would be deal-breakers for me, the die-hard EQ2 fangirl. The opt-in combat system sounded really flaky: where's the adventure in that?? Having multiple jobs (or classes, if you will) available at all times for a single character seemed pointless: is it really better to be a jack of all trades than a master of one?

Let me just allay your fears now: there are NO deal-breakers here.

I find the opt-in combat system to be a relief, actually. I love exploring and questing, and if I don't want to fight, I'm actually kinda glad that I don't have to. In EQ2, I do most of my exploring in zones that have greyed out to me, so I'm not sure why I thought FR's combat would rub me the wrong way.

I'm also happy with the fact that I have so many different career paths open to me. They're all leveled up separately, so in a way, it's like have a whole bevy of alts rolled into one character. I can tell right up front that there will be a few that I favor over the rest, but they all have their usefulness and they're all fun in their own ways.

For those who would pooh-pooh the "cartoony" style of the game art, keep in mind that this is a game geared toward young folks. Being an artist myself, I personally find the graphics really pretty and very appropriate for the genre. There are lots of sophisticated subtleties thrown in there, so don't ever think you're just looking at a hole in a dead tree trunk; you might get a nasty surprise:

While there are plenty of polygons, the only real pixels you'll see is when you're fact-to-face in dialog with an NPC of the larger variety (like trolls.) The smaller races are quite charming, and the humans are very attractive. There's plenty of humor for us grown-ups too: quest names have been the main source of my laughter so far, such as Peavey's Big Ad Venture, as well as the odd EverQuest homage, like an NPC named Murdunk.

This game won't appeal to everyone, but I believe SOE has done an admirable job. It's beautiful, clever, and most importantly, fun. If you haven't given it a try by now, I strongly encourage you to.

Thanks to the back of my box of Cheez-Its, I found this little number. (To avoid Flash Rage, click "Read More" to load the widget.)

Next thing on my "Make Me an Even Bigger Geek!!" checklist: Best. Mail-in. Offer. Ever.

We moved into our new guild hall (tier 2, in South Qeynos) on Friday, and I've been busily decorating since then. There's still a lot to do, but I wanted to toss up some screenshots of what I have accomplished so far.

Anyone on the Lucan D'Lere server is welcome to drop by for a visit! (You can see pics of our old guild hall here.)

Bunny Day in Animal Crossing: City Folk was this past Sunday, and it was a hoot. From Zipper T. Bunny (the obviously underpaid and insincerely enthusiastic mascot) in front of Town Hall to the gazillions of bunny eggs he'd buried around town, it was easily an all-day event. I found great relief in the fact that each player in each town has his or her own "set" of bunny eggs to find, and the locations of remaining eggs change every time you login, making it easier to find those you may have missed before.

In the spirit of being festive — you all know how much I looove to be festive! — I redid my second floor bedroom in the Godawful so-cute-it's-hideous Egg furniture series (or is it a set? I get them confused!). Clockwise from top left, we have the Egg Wardrobe, Egg Toy Set, Egg Bench, Egg Lamp, Egg Table, Egg Chair, Egg Clock, Egg Dresser, Egg Stereo, and Egg Bed, all of which is complemented by the Egg Wall and Egg Floor. EGG!!

It was a load of fun, and that's no yolk. (*bah-dum-ching*)

This NPC's name made me LOL, especially after Monday night's Big Bang Theory ("The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition"):

The long, long, LONG-awaited GU51 has hit EQ2's live servers this morning. Lemme tell ya, I've been ready for this thing for a couple months now. My Inventory and Inspect Player UI mods have been ready for over a month now, and I've been itching to try out the new Lavastorm content. The Bristlebane day event is also now live, and I'm looking forward to digging into that as well.

In the meantime, here are a few preliminary screenshots of the new Lavastorm goodies, plus a before and after of the new ice texture for frosty house items: