STATE OF WHYVILLE #4: Style Studio! Scion Driving School! Happy Holidays!
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This site-wide bulletin will be issued regularly to all citizens through Ymail and the Whyville Times as a way for us to let you know about upcoming changes, new games & activities, and everything we're doing to keep Whyville a fun and safe place. Questions or ideas about the State of Whyville? Post them on the Whyville Times BBS of this article!
CONTENTS:
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1. RECENT LAUNCHES
2. RECENT EVENTS
3. CURRENT/UPCOMING EVENTS
4. IN THE WORKS
5. FUTURE PROJECTS
6. REMINDERS
1. RECENT LAUNCHES
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Style Studio -- One of Whyville's biggest hits ever was launched this fall. Visit the new Style Studio to get a new look any time, or give a makeover by becoming a stylist! You can start a business and earn tons of clams!
Scion Driving School -- Another huge new game, Scion Driving School started in mid December and is proving to be a big hit! Learn to drive in a Whyville Scion in a brand new 3-D environment.
C.A.R.E. -- One of Whyville's most popular new destinations, C.A.R.E., houses three great games, AALAS Solitare, Critter Care, and Habitat Builder. If you haven't played yet, you're missing out!
The New Chat License -- At the end of the Summer we did a full renovation of the Whyville Chat License, now housed in the Welcome Lounge. Check it out!
New Skins -- We released two new skins, one for Halloween and one for Thanksgiving during those holidays. They can be used whenever you want!
Flash -- Tired of pesky loading screens? Great news! You now have the option to visit many rooms in Whyville with Flash instead of Java! More and more rooms will allow this option in the future, making your visit to Whyville faster and slicker! If you prefer Java to Flash for whatever reason, simply visit your Info & Preferences page on the Destination Menu and choose "Prefer Java".
Whyville Help Guide & Help Center -- The old Newbie Center was recently converted into the new Help Center. Visit the Help Center any time to talk to or Ymail a Whyville Helper. If you don't need live help, you can also click on the green question mark icon at the top of any screen to visit the Whyville Help Guide, a glossary of everything about Whyville!
Renovations -- Whyville West, WASA, and The WhyHouse? are just a few of the tons of areas that have gotten shiny new makeovers. Akbar finally received the lobby he's been asking for all these years, and even more cool new rooms are in the works.
2. RECENT EVENTS
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Annual Halloween Party -- Dr. Leila's was once again transformed into a spooky haunted mansion for this year's Halloween Party. As every year, a Halloween Costume Contest was held, and the winner walked away with all the glory!
This year, the citizen with the best costume was XleilaX! She won a One Month Whypass and the super-rare 'Pumpkin Crown 2' face part. The runner up, TIMMYcc, also received a One Month Whypass. 8 other winners received hefty clam prizes: stars54, airport, holliabe1, TEXTY, dogz9909, StarKool? , gameguy11, and funkchik1. Congratulations to all!
Brains . . . Brains . . . Brains . . . -- For the first time in Whyville history, in celebration of Halloween this year, zombies plagued our town! Brains that turned citizens into brain-eating zombies turned up all over town. Luckily, magic mooncakes that happened to be zombie antidote materialized too! If you didn't turn into a zombine this Halloween in Whyville, you missed out!
WhyFlu and WhyMe? Flu -- It's that time of the year again, and people are getting sick on Whyville and in real life! Make sure to get yourself vaccinated, and if you get sick, make sure to protect others by typing "cover" to cover your mouth whenever you think you might cough!
School Your Mom Contest Winners -- This fall, Whyville's first video contest gave away a brand new Dell Mini that features the Whyville Animaticon on its desktop. The most popular videos for the School Your Mom contest, as voted on by you, are: #6 Shei, #5 fudgyfeud, #4 Rock2msic, #3 Play2live, #2 Jamie94x, and #1 Poppinx3! Congratulations! The winners will each receive a gift of Pearls.
Poppinx3 was also the winner of the CW's choice award and won the new Mini! Thanks to everyone who entered!
Scion Events -- the last Scion Car Rally was held on November 13th. Congratulations to all who played! Scion Owner's Events were held on October 16 and December 18.
Science Chicago -- the end of summer marked the end of our year with Science Chicago. We hope you all enjoyed collecting and trading all the cards! If you had any left in your satchel recently, they have been automatically traded in for you.
3. UPCOMING EVENTS:
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The Whyville Times Awards -- don't forget to vote for your favorite articles from this year's Whyville Times!
New Year's Party! -- Don't have plans for New Year's Eve yet? Drop on by the Whyville New Year's Party on 12/31. Keep an eye on the Welcome Page for more details!
Getty Art Hour -- The Next Getty Art Hour is scheduled for January 20th. Visit the Greek Theater to discuss art with a real-live curator from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Mark your calendars!
4. IN THE WORKS
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New Welcome Page & Sign In Page -- want a cleaner page when you log in? So did we! We're in the middle of an awesome renovation of both the Sign In page, www.whyville.net, and the Welcome Page, your Whyville homepage, launching soon!
Shark Migration -- A new game sponsored by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is in the works! This time, you'll be keeping an eye out for sharks in Whyville and around the world. Keep your eyes peeled!
New Forum Features -- Mentioned in the last SoW? , the new features are arriving soon to the Whyville Forums! Keep an eye out for them. Don't post on the forums yet? What are you waiting for?
5. FUTURE PROJECTS
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Green Myville -- A new and improved Myville is on its way! You'll finally be able to get a plot and build a house. Even better -- you'll learn how to build environmentally friendly houses both in Whyville and in the real world.
The Designer's Lair -- Many of you have noticed the sign up in Akbar's new lobby. The Designer's Lair, coming soon, will be a place where designers can hang out and take tutorials from Akbar and their fellow designers. You only have to have one part accepted by Akbar to get into the Designer's Lounge, so if you want access and haven't tried the Face Factory before, start designing now!
Whyville Times Office -- The Times Office is returning to City Hall! Keep an eye out for an announcement in the BBS in the coming months. You may be able to earn some salary points from working for the Times in the future, too!
6. REMINDERS
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* If you don't have Pearls, get some today! For the cost of a couple candy bars, you can enjoy special Whyville activities like Pets, Chat Candy, and more. You can also sign up for a Pearls allowance and get new Pearls each month, or give Pearls as a gift. Face Factory Vouchers are still on sale, so get 'em while you can!
* Need extra clams? Just a reminder that the Welcome Lounge needs Whyville Guides (WG). If you qualify, stop by the Welcome Lounge in the WhyHouse? ? to join. You'll get a special WG hat, use special commands to conduct tours, AND earn up to 100 clams a day helping new citizens.
* Calendar Events -- Monday: Letter Squash at 1 PM, Tuesday: Math Expressions at 1 PM, Scion Soluctions Quiz Game at 3 PM, Wednesday: Letter Squash at 1 PM, Thursday: Expressions at 1 PM, New Year's Eve Party at the Sportplatz 12:30 PM to Midnight, Friday: Letter Squash at 1 PM,, Saturday: Letter Squash at 1 PM
