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The adage usually goes "it's hard to find good help these days." And it's all too true in the gaming industry. While other industries may shun players of MMORPGs, game development companies are actively looking to recruit top-notch talent. Competition is tough to get the best developers, especially when the projects they might be working on cannot be revealed. So to break the monotony of typical recruiter phone calls, Red 5 came up with a unique way to get potential employees interested.

Their Golden Ticket system sent 100 developers an unmarked FedEx box. Inside was another box, labeled 1, that featured art from the game under development and looked vaguely like it might have come from a Mission: Impossible set. Then, in a sort of modern Russian nesting doll manner, the potential employee uncovered the full group of five boxes. Within the fifth box was an iPod, personally engraved for that recipient, along with a code to enter on the Red5 website. The iPod, once hooked up with the site, played a personalized message inviting the developer to the Red5 offices to check out the facility and interview. Quite a unique, if paranoia-inducing, way to get new applicants.

If you're in for a lazy Sunday at home, haven't got visiting relatives demanding your attention, and happen to have an EverQuest II subscription, then we might have found something that can kill a couple of hours for you. The Custodi della Luce guild from the Splitpaw server are holding a massive event, one the likes of which are not often seen in an MMO, and particularly not when it's organized entirely by players. They've built an elaborate obstacle course out of their guild hall, and are offering generous prizes for the fast and furious.

It may be too late to register as a runner in the official race (although 12-15 new racers will be accepted at the event, you'd need to get in quick), a large tower has been constructed in the center of the course for onlookers to watch. After the race is over and prizes are given out, a spectator free-for-all will take place on the course -- expect this race to get dirty as stray elbows and shin-kicks get lost in the bustling crowd.

Even if you aren't going to attend the event, the embedded video (seen better with the high quality option turned on at Youtube) shows the magnificent effort that Custodi della Luce has put into making the circuit -- color us impressed. The actual race begins at 18:00GMT today, the 21st of December, and the full event details can be found at the EQII forums. Good luck to all that participate!

A popular event in EVE Online is returning this winter: the Alliance PvP Tournament, which kicks off late January, continuing through to final rounds in February. The final rounds of the Alliance PvP Tournament will be broadcast live, which is the basis for the latest announcement from CCP Games. EVE Online dev CCP Fallout has stated there will be free advertising slots for players to use during the live broadcast of the tournament finals. As CCP Fallout says, "Simply put: this is the biggest ad space available for EVE players and yet it will cost you absolutely nothing to submit an advertisement."

We cringe at the thought of some of the video footage that could make it into the live broadcast (while looking forward to it as well), but CCP Games has laid out some general and technical guidelines that should keep the live broadcast relatively clean. Also, they've opened up the use of some of their intellectual property for players to use in producing their adverts -- namely the EVE Online music and sound effects. (Although it must be noted that you actually have to use their music and sound effects, due to copyright issues that would inevitably result from widespread Rick-rolling.)

The Warhammer Online December newsletter is filled with some of the announcements we've already mentioned at Massively, such as the Keg End holiday event, the two new careers, and some the other big changes that are impacting the game.

What we haven't mentioned yet is that Warhammer Online has a Recruit-a-Friend program. It doesn't give the experience bonuses that the World of Warcraft offer of the same name does. In fact, the WAR Recruit-a-Friend is similar to what's happening with EVE Online: you invite a friend to a free trial. If that friend becomes a subscriber, the invitation sender receives 30 days of free game time credited to their account. You can recruit up to three people, although over your time subscribed this increases to a maximum of six recruitment notices you can have on deck at any given time. For more info on how this works, log into your master account to see how it's done.

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	WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

I've caught myself saying it too: I love this game because it's so immersive! Whether it's the graphics, animation, art style, accuracy of game play or whatever; immersion is a popular explanation as to why we enjoy certain games. But is this accurate anymore? Are we past that novelty?

A recent article at Gamasutra explores this topic and the whole psychology of immersion. Despite what some of the most vocal advocates of immersion might preach, the truth is that graphical realism in a game usually only applies to a niche market. For example, just look at the Nintendo Wii and its casual, yet enormous audience. One could argue that there is immersion in the motion control, yet none in the art style. This can also be carried a step further into World of Warcraft. While there are certainly strong opinions against the game's stylized graphics, 11 million people don't seem to mind.

So what are your thoughts on immersion? Are realistic graphics a requirement for you, or would you play a 2D MMO if the gameplay was perfect?

This last year has seen a lot of things happen in our beloved MMO-world. Things like the launch of Pirates of the Burning Sea and Age of Conan delays seem long lost in the fog of summer and winter. It was all buried underneath the revelations of DC Universe Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic. And the noise created by the build up to Warhammer Online's launch seemed squelched by the silent wall that was the Wrath of the Lich King launch. It was all a gust of insanity that blew through our brains, creating ebbs and tides in our attention and interest faster than any of us probably thought possible. And just when we all thought it was over, Atari bought Cryptic.

But it seems safe to leave our homes and wonder about the great precipice of 2009. At least until the next massive storm rolls in and knocks an oak tree into our recently mended skulls.

Now that Tabula Rasa will be closing in two months, many of us are remembering a similar situation in 2007 with NCsoft's Auto Assault. The game's development team at NetDevil was fairly outspoken at the time about what they felt was a savable game, yet NCsoft saw it as a business decision. One of the most vocal NetDevil employees who tried to save the game was Scott Brown. Ten Ton Hammer caught up with Brown in a recent interview where he gave his current views on Auto Assault's closing, what the company is working on now and a hint at what's in their future.

"I would never turn off a game." Brown says in the interview. "I would do what I would need to do to make the game support itself, but why turn it off? Especially when there are people that love your game?" With knowing what they know now, Brown discusses how the studio has changed their development process. Their current projects, including the LEGO Universe MMO, Jumpgate and an unannounced web-based game coming soon, are enough to keep this company from focusing too much on their past mistakes and just blasting forward into the future.

This interview is part one of two, so look for more from Scott Brown in the second half coming next week.

Pet peeve time, ladies and gentlemen. I despise the realism movement in video games. Sure, I love seeing more accurate graphics and more realistic environments -- that's the nice part. I get to use my nice computer to explore amazing landscapes and take part in some beautiful interactions.

But, whoever wrote the equation "Brown + Grass + Bland Colors = Realism" needs to have their head checked. With all of this amazing technology, we've seemed to have forgotten the magic of what games stand for. But what really gets me is the culture that's springing around this phenomenon. Apparently "toony" games aren't welcome here anymore. So I need to ask the question: "Who decided brown was an awesome color?"

With the darker part of the year almost at its peak, today we have one of the darkest areas from Lord of the Rings Online. Today's One Shots shows off an area we've seen before, but not quite from this angle. It was sent in to us by the Hobbit Minstrel, Poplin, who plays on Firefoot (US). He writes in: This is a shot of one of my favorite vistas in Angmar, Barad Gularan. It looks quite evil and foreboding but it has a kind of dark beauty to it as well.

We're still on the lookout for more One Shots, so if you get a chance to snap a few, send some our way! We're looking for all games - from AoC to Zu Online, and everything in between. Just send them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com and show off your favorite game.

Is one MMO ever enough?

Lots of people play more than one MMO. Among the staff here at Massively, you would be hard pressed to find a writer with only one active subscription. Ever the exception however, I am a one-game kind of guy.

"Is that through choice, or necessity though, Craig?" I hear you cry. The answer is that it's a little of both. It's easy to say that I don't have enough time to play a couple of MMOs, but if I was really honest with myself, I'd admit to that being a lie. If I'm able to free up a couple of hours every couple of nights to play World of Warcraft, then why can't I alternate those nights, for example, between WoW and another game?

As you may have already spotted on our sister blog, Big Download, the games publishing giant Electronic Arts are bringing a chunk of their software catalog to Steam, sans any third-party DRM or copy-protection (beyond their own, or that provided by the Steam service itself).

For Massively readers, particularly, that means that Warhammer Online is available right now for US$49.99 (including 30 days free) -- however, only if you are in North America (essentially the USA and Canada, we believe). As yet there is no announcement that the EA catalog will be made available via Steam to other regions in future (though we have our fingers crossed). This is kind of a bummer, yes. Steam seems to be a great way to handle MMO clients, and bulk installs.

This makes Warhammer Online the third MMO client available via Steam, as it joins Age of Conan or EVE Online. How many of you would try out Warhammer Online from Steam versus a purchase off the shelf or through the EA Store?

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	WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

There has been much unpleasantness following last week's announcement by SOE that they would be introducing Station Cash to Everquest and Everquest II. But few write-ups have been so frequented (or adamant) as that of Allakhazam editor Tamat. The main gist of the argument is that this change was forced upon all servers, rather than providing the option to choose switching to a server offering these transactions. There are also concerns over how the items, available only by microtransactions, change the dynamic of play in the games.

We invite all of you, readers, to tell us what your experience of the Station Cash items has been thus far. Have you used the system? Are you excited or annoyed by the gear available for money? In short, is it more fun or just funds?

Massively has mentioned that Age of Conan is giving away in-game items all month as part of a seasonal contest they're running. But the latest Age of Conan newsletter let us know that everyone's received a free gift automatically, as of December 18th.

Funcom's given all players a new virtual item -- the Kosalan talisman of clarity. It boosts stamina and mana for its wearer, with a faster rate of regeneration for those traits. While it's not as über as the items obtainable at higher levels, it's not bad for a freebie. Age of Conan players can claim the Kosalan talisman by simply typing "/claim" in-game.

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	Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

The news coming out of the Tabula Rasa camp this evening just keeps getting better! First we hear about the new content being released with Deployment 15, then the upcoming PAU and Mech units being released in Deployment 16, and now we get word that the game will be going free-to-play a full month earlier than originally planned.

As of right now, Tabula Rasa is completely free to current players, former players and brand new players. Head on over to the PlayNC store to create or reactivate an account and enjoy the final months of the game at no cost. Check out the official announcement for more details on creating or reactivating an account, and check out the game before it's too late!

Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently put a new twist on the 'top 10' lists that are cropping up at year's end -- a sort of top ten of gaming rage as expressed on the intertubes. Much of this list is focused on single-player titles and the industry itself, but Meer's 'Orc vs Orc' (#8 on the list) caught our attention.

Meer writes, "We've already talked today about the absurd, insane fanboy fallout from our own comparisons between Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft, but in truth it was a torrent of poison that briefly gripped MMO sites the world over. Notably, MUDfather Richard Bartle endured character assassination by a raft of WAR fansites after an interview in which he apparently stated the two games were very similar." That interview in question was actually Dr. Bartle's talk with our own (master) Michael Zenke back in June.

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	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!