Glitch!

     Yes, Glitch. A wonderful little flash-based MMO that I find myself spending hours on every day. This game has the ability to bring you back, time and time again. On the outside, it seems like any other 'little me' game. You customize your avatar, run around, talk to people, and play with animals.

There is much, MUCH more, to Glitch. For one, the animals talk. Trees talk. Pretty much everything in this game, can talk. As you run around picking fruit and beans off of trees, squeezing grain out of chickens, you find yourself wondering, "What!? I just squoze...squeezed...squzzed...a chicken...and grain came out. Oh, and over there, that tree, beans grow on it. Hm."
    This game has many odd quirks. For one, the game recently launched out of it's Beta into full release-mode, but Stewart Butterfield, head of Tiny Speck, the company that developed the game, didn't like the way the game was going. Glitch was promptly 'unlaunched', and is now in Beta again.
Also, the entire game is based on imagination; the imagination of 11 giants, in fact. These 'Giants' act as the gods of the Glitch universe, creating and imagining everything inside it. Players can donate items to the shrines of these giants, to either obtain an 'Emblem' of x giant, or to speed up the learning time of a skill, which are essential for improving your character's gathering/crafting abilities.
     As in every (Or at lest most) games, there is still a villain, and this villain is the Rook. The Rook is a large, black-ish raven-like bird that opposes imagination: the binding force of the world of Ur.
Players, with the right skills in their arsenal, can engage these Rooks in a special event, called a Rook Attack. These events happen randomly (Though fairly rarely) throughout the world. When enough players with the right skills show up at a Rook Attack, they (with the use of their skills) channel their power into a special Orb, and stun the Rook, defeating it for the time being. There is no blood, just some animations (Amazing animations) of the Rook raking it's talons across the screen and some pretty explosions.

As for recent updates to the game, a test-version has been released for the much-awaited and much-anticipated housing update. Previous to the update, all player housing was located in a 'Quarter'. In each Quarter, there were Blocks. Each block held anywhere from 8-12 houses. All houses in a specific Quarter were of a static design, based on the region the Quarter was located in. Meadow houses were large, clean mansions, while houses in the 'Firebogs', were dirty, gourd-shaped houses.

In this new update, the entire housing system will be scrapped, and brought back together in a totally new way. Housing Quarters will totally dissapear. Instead of houses being located in a neighborhood along with other similar houses, each player will have their own personal Street, on which their new super-house will be placed. These new super-houses will be totally customizable. You will be able to add anything to your house, including furniture you have crafted yourself, pieces and parts from other sorts of houses, increase the size of your yard, and much much more.

My Glitch's Avatar

In addition, the current experience system will be replaced by the new 'Imagination system', in which you receive 'Imagination' for everything you do. You will be able to use this Imagination to expand your house, or increase your energy pool, among other things.

     Altogether, I feel that though this game is going through a lot of change, it is thoroughly fun, and it definitely caters to a lot of different people. You can decide to be a miner, isolating yourself from civilization in cold, dark caves, swinging away with you pick. You might choose the route of the cook, feeding yourself and other Glitchen, or you could become a tinker, crafting and fixing the tools necessary for everyday Glitching.
*Be warned though: The population of this game is mostly adults, kids might not be able to socialize/experience the game fully.
To play the game, head here: www.Glitch.com and sign up for a beta invite. If you want to get one faster, send me your email address so a player can send you an invite.

My Glitch's new house, showcasing the diversity of objects/furniture in the game