Archive for January, 2007

So many fun things to look forward to…

Monday, January 29th, 2007

Let’s make a list!

  • Exciting new projects at Relic…
  • Relic ski trip this weekend at Big White… skiing/boarding all weekend, fun at the pubs… cooking breakfast together… hot tubs… ice skating!
  • Canucks playoff run ;)
  • Golf season!
  • RELIC COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE YAY! (reminder, send me your biggest fan contest entries… you only have 2 days left!)
  • Meet up in May with my Xbox 360 “clan”
  • Office pranks…

I’m sure there are a lot more… but for now, there is so much to look forward to!

I especially can’t wait for the ski trip. I’ll be taking a ton of pictures. I’m also going to be bringing my Nikon D50 DSLR up so I can take some hot action shots. For those of you who haven’t seen my photography, there’s a bunch in the Studio subforum on the RelicNews fansite.

The Relic community is seriously the coolest…

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

I’m sure there are community managers out there who get to deal with some pretty cool fans. From die hard FPSers to addicted MMORPG players, there is certainly a spectrum of different fans out there.

That being said, in my 6 months at Relic so far, I can honestly say that our fans are the coolest. For the most part (;)) they are level headed, intelligent, and usually dedicated to a specific Relic franchise… e.g. COH, DOW, Homeworld, etc. What this means is that most of our fans in the community aren’t just casual gamers, they are knowledgeable about the Relic universes, know all the units in a game by name or look, or have contributed amazing assets to the community like mods or maps or art…

Part of what makes the community out there so great are the fansites. I’ve had the great privilege of getting to know some of the administrators and moderators on the various sites very well, to the point where I consider some of them my close friends.

On one of the biggest fansites, RelicNews, we had a “Secret Santa” going on for Christmastime between the mods and admins. I sent ionfish (RN Administrator) a bunch of Relic paraphernalia and the first season of Rome on DVD (seriously some of the best TV I’ve ever seen). However, what REALLY rocked my socks is what Trinity sent me. Check out the pics below. He sent me a great letter, plus a badge with the crest of the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Control where he was appointed a commanding offer. Pretty incredible! AND he got the avatar I use on a lot of community sites printed up on canvas. I’ve posted it on the side of my cubicle for everyone to see. I really love it. It’s an incredible gift.

It’s things like this that make the Relic community so awesome, and all I have to say to the other community managers out there for different communities is… *in Nelson voice*… HA HA! :D

The office pranks heat up…

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

… so after I Post-It-Noted Mike’s desk (see a few blog posts below), he stuck a huge sign “Loser” on the back of my favourite player’s jersey which I hang on the wall behind me desk, Trevor Linden. So basically he put “Loser” where “Linden” is on the jersey. I didn’t notice for a couple days. OH IT’S GAME ON NOW, MIKE!Also, some of my coworkers got into my unlocked computer (yes I know, my fault), and sent out e-mails to various people in the company saying “My name is Allie and I suck at foos” just because I beat them at foosball that day ;) .

So I had to get them back someone. I created an e-mail that appeared to have been sent to their boss (the Sound Director) and our HR director saying this:

Hi Jenn,

 I’m really not impressed by the level of maturity that some of the people in your team are displaying. Not only is it unprofessional, but it is unethical for John and Glenn to be using my computer and sending e-mails from my account.

 As much as I like them as people, I think they have crossed the line. I have also sent this to Winnie for disciplinary action.

 I hope you both take the appropriate action.

 Thanks,

 Allie

And I got Jenn in on the joke and she pretended to have a word with them and get upset. They both came to my desk to apologize and I said, “Well, you should be sorry” in a deadpan voice. They both freaked out. So then Jenn and I ran by by their offices yelling “PUNKED!!!”. Hahaha. Needless to say they weren’t very happy ;)

So of course I came in this morning to find an entire ball of tape wrapped around my mouse. LOL.

SO I ASK YOU, dear readers, what kind of pranks should I play on these miscreants? ;)

Server Maintenance (CoH)

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007

On Monday, January 29th, 2006, the Relic Online servers will be down for maintenance starting at 5 AM PST. We expect the servers to be back up before 8 AM PST. This reboot is expected to improve server stability and security after installation of operating system patches. Thank you very much for your patience during this time.

Sincerely, The Relic Team.

If…

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

… the Canucks win against the Sens and Buffalo this weekend, I will wear my Canucks jersey all next week at work. Every day.

Owch..

Monday, January 15th, 2007

So I went up skiing on Friday night at Cypress… it was REALLY cold. -20 or something? Supposed to be the coldest night of the year… and my friend that went with my injured his ankle, sprained it. Meanwhile, I was skiing down quite quickly back to the lift… on the left side of the run. There’s a fork in the run here, the left side going down to the chairlift, and the right side going down to the ski rentals area. Well this guy was beside me going even faster, on the left side of the left fork, and SUDDENLY goes across to the right, heading to the rentals area. He didn’t even shoulder check or make sure to see who was beside him, and he collided with me. I flew in the air a bit, and the back of my head hit the ice. Ouch. According to my friend, I blacked out for 30 seconds. The guy picked up his ski and went off without even asking me if I was okay. I got snowmobiled to first aid (that was pretty fun!). But apparently I have a concussion. Boo. They tried to catch the guy but couldn’t find him.

Anyway, needless to say I am recovering and try not to move my stiff neck too much at work :)

Don’t get me wrong though, skiing is still AWESOME! I’ve been going on a skiing binge lately, going up once or twice a week for the past couple months. It’s been great snow here lately. Hopefully I’ll be back to skiing soon after some recovery. You can’t get rid of me that easily ;)

LOL

Friday, January 12th, 2007

So I saw a post on RelicNews about a co-worker covering his buddy’s desk in Yellow Post-It Notes.

Anyway, there’s this co-worker of mine who keeps insulting my favourite Canucks player (Trevor Linden) because he knows it ticks me off…. I’m threatening him with a prank for a while… and I finally had time to do it ;)

I covered every object on his desk… it’s a bit hard to tell from the picture. I still think the one from RN is better, but ah well, I thought I’d give it a shot ;) Mike Doyle, never insult my Trevor again!

Click here for bigger size 

P.S.

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

I am so excited about the March Open House! Wohooo…. it sounds like we’re going to have a lot of fun. And some admins/mods are coming over from RelicNews too and staying at Uberjumpers house and we’re going to do a variety of activities like going out on the town…. going skiing/snowboarding…. sightseeing… games day… and more! Did I mention I was excited? :D

Relic Online Exploitation and Harassment Policy (CoH)

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

Relic Entertainment is now taking appropriate action against players involved in activities that may create an uneven playing field for others or have significant negative impact on the enjoyment of Company of Heroes for all players. This may involve (but is not limited to) activities such as “drop-hacking”, in-game aggravation, or verbal harassment.

“Drop-Hacking” and Disconnect Abuse

Drop-hacking is a specific action taken by a player to manually disconnect from a game with the intention of acquiring a win illegitimately. This does not include using the in-game option to quit, or if your internet connection unintentionally drops. However, we will still be tracking trust for players who appear to drop often, regardless of the method used to drop.

In-Game Harassment

In-game harassment is considered abusing game mechanics to cause another player grief. This can involve (but not limited to) forms of “team-killing”, from intentionally sandbagging or barbed-wire trapping a teammate in to using mortars or artillery strikes on a teammate’s base.

Verbal Harassment and Inappropriate Behaviour

Verbal harassment is considered (but not limited to) highly inappropriate language taking place in game lobbies or during a game. Language such as racial or ethnic, gender-specific, religious, vulgar or sexual orientation slurs will not be tolerated. We will also not tolerate spamming, advertising, or discussion of illegal activities.

Action Taken

If a player is found or strongly suspected to have participated in any of the above activities, he or she may:

- Receive a warning through e-mail
-
Receive a temporary suspension
-
Receive a permanent account ban

Should you come across any players participating in these actions, we prefer that you save a replay (or take a screenshot/log) and send it to coh-abuse@relic.com. We will investigate the incident and act accordingly.

We believe that through these actions, we create a more even playing field for all players as well as a more enjoyable one.

Thank you,

The Relic Team

Wow look what happened at BC Stadium…

Friday, January 5th, 2007

I can’t believe it… in the midst of our snow storm look what happened to one of our huge stadiums in the city!

Here’s what it looked like before..

And here’s what it looks like today…

Click here for bigger picture
:S

Company of Heroes Stats Reset in January (amended)

Friday, January 5th, 2007

Hi everyone, please note that we have changed the prize date to April 9th instead of March 1st to award the prizes. The stats reset will still occur on January 8th.

“Please be aware that Relic is resetting user stats and leaderboards in Company of Heroes on Monday, January 8th at 11:00 AM PST.

Patch 1.4 has resolved issues of rank reporting, therefore we would like to give the community a fresh start. Please note that both ranked and basic stats will be cleared on this date. On April 9th, 2007, we will recognize the top three players with prizes. At this time, ranked statistics will be cleared.

We also want to bring to your attention that we there was code added to Patch 1.4 to track drop hacking. Please be aware that this tracks accounts, not profiles, so “smurfing” will not circumvent the tracking. Cheating will not be tolerated in Company of Heroes.

Thank you!

The Relic Team”

Pinky!

Friday, January 5th, 2007

For those of you who don’t know, Pinky is the main character in a Dawn of War-based comic drawn by the RelicNews forum member Dr. Badman. Click here to see the comics.

Over the holidays, I took the time to make up some “stuffed” Pinky’s. He’s made out of soft pink felt, perfect to hug or throw around! And he has a glossy purple tongue. As promised, here are the pics :)

Would you like to win the other Pinky? I’m giving one away to the person who makes the 100th comment on this post. Hmmmmm! Comments with obscenity or totally weaksauce posts with one or two characters will be deleted ;) And you can’t post more than 5 times! I wonder what people’s strategy will be on this…