Contest

Alright, I gave everyone a homework assignment once, and we all know how well that went over - in the intervening weeks, not only has not even one person completed it, but we've had someone actually quit playing.

I think its fair to say that this was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

Building on this, I have another assignment for everyone.

Wait! before you stop reading just on principle, please hear (read?) me out. I suspect, in all honesty, that you will actually enjoy this one. There is even a real reward, not just the vague, amorphous promise of one.

Penny Arcade is holding a contest. Called "Ten Words", they want people to write and submit short stories set in WoW - the catch being, you guessed it (or knew already, having read about it on PA), those stories may only be ten words long. Here is the text from the actual PA post:

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We rarely do contests, but this seemed like a good time, and we knew the right people. Between Blizzard and Upper Deck, they have unloaded a truly revolting amount of merchandise on us, and we'll be passing this largesse over to the readership in a frictionless manner: three piles of stuff so gigantic that you will quite literally never need to purchase another card. You will, of course, because you won't be able to help it. Even so, you won't need to: four boxes of boosters, tournament playmats, a Winterveil collector's box, deckboxes, sleeves, two binders, three raid decks, three starter decks, and one of these awesome dice chest things. Each of these sets also includes an X-51 Nether-Rocket, an ultra-rare card that can be redeemed in-game for a custom flying mount. These custom mounts can go for up to two thousand dollars online, so each one of them - on its own - would be sufficient to build a contest around. I don't know that I've ever seen a contest like this. It's completely ridiculous.

Securing these mounds of treasure is simple, but not effortless: you must write a short story, set in World of Warcraft, and this story must be precisely ten words long. Then, you must mail your story to Gabriel, with the subject line "Ten Words." This contest is easy and fun. At least, for me! But Gabriel has told me that I cannot win, so you've got a shot. Something along these lines, maybe:

His father's sword, shattered to the hilt, fell like stars.

It doesn't have to be especially epic, it merely needs to ring true. For example:

"Help," he cried. "My dick is stuck in this Treant!"

See what I mean? It paints a picture. You know everything you need to know about the dick and the Treant. You've got until Thursday, the 10th of April. We'll announce the winners next Friday.

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I would like everyone to participate in this contest. We're a rather creative lot as lots go, and I think our combined talent has a good chance of producing at least one of the 3 possible winning submissions. Even if you don't have any interest in the card game itself, the $2000 ebay price tag on that nether rocket card should be enough to entice you. All submissions should be sent to gabriel AT penny-arcade.com with the subject line of "Ten Words". As mentioned in the above excerpt, the deadline is Thursday April 10. Once you've submitted your stories, please post them as comments to this blog so we can all enjoy them. Have fun!