Posts with tag oil

Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Is it possible to turn a roleplaying guild into a casual raiding guild? Can the two groups mingle in the same community, or is it like mixing oil and water? This week, one guild leader has tried to do just that. Read on to find out how it has worked so far!

Hey Scott,

My boyfriend, and I recently made a guild. He's more into the RP aspect of the game, and mainly focuses on recruiting RPers. Most of these individuals are nice people, but are usually under level 40, and don't play or care enough to do anything serious end game when they get there. I was set on making it more of a raiding guild. Nothing too hardcore, but enough progression to be able to down most bosses in current raids. Before it was all put into practice it seemed like a good idea.

The Digital Distribution Tax has been around for a little while now. In fact, seventeen or more states have already adopted it, and more are considering it.

Once upon a time, digitally distributed content, such as downloaded copies of WoW and its expansions, allowed customers to avoid the sales tax that they would pay if they bought a copy from a store.

This proposed tax is poised to increase the costs of downloading music, books, videos, games, and other similar content.

Wisconsin is one of the most recent states to hop on board, adding a 5% tax to digitally distributed goods. One of the opponents, State Rep. Scott Suder, commented, "it's basically taxing students to fill in the Doyle budget shortfall, and I think that's unfair."

This tax will also affect families, and in these economic times, further taxing the people may not be the best way to drum up state funds.

Steve Delbiano from NetChoice, which encompasses Ebay, Aol, Yahoo and many others, points out that this tax is anything but environmentally friendly.

"With global warming and a world that's running out of oil, the last thing governments should do is add taxes on something that uses no oil and produces no carbon. A digital download is the greenest way to buy music, movies, and software, since it requires no driving to the store, no delivery vans, and no plastics or packaging."

The ECA, or Entertainment Consumer's Organization, a voice for the people, is leading a campaign against this tax, rallying in New York, Washington and Mississippi.

China recently chose a similar route. Instead of adding a sales tax, they imposed a 20% income tax upon digitally distributed goods, resulting in sweeping price increases.

Unfortunately, this trend might be here to stay.

Here's another WoW/virtual character portrait studio -- we've covered a few before -- but I think it's the first place we've ever seen that will actually create an oil-on-canvas portrait of whatever character you choose. Most folks do it with digital art or illustration, but Mondolithic Studios goes the extra mile -- not only will they actually put a painting together, but they'll show up to photograph you in your element, too. Lots of artists use reference shots that you send them, but Mondolithic apparently aims for "combat photography," which means they'll have a toon in world with you to watch you do your thing.

Interesting. There's only a few samples there at the moment, but they'll probably have more when and if business picks up. The style is quite interesting -- it certainly is oil paint, but rather than going realistic, it seems like it's designed more to mimic the actual look of the game, with a few weird polygon angles and designs.

Unfortunately, there's no mention of price at all (you have to email them for estimates), but odds are it isn't cheap. Then again, if you're in search of a one-of-a-kind oil portrait of the character you've sunk so much time into, this just might be worth the money you put into it.

[Via Massively]